Deepika Padukone's 82°E set for major expansion: Interview with the superstar

Actor, entrepreneur and investor Deepika Padukone launched skincare 82°E last year, which she called ‘a self-care brand’ with two products. A year later, the brand has a portfolio of 12 products. The brand was created owing to the founders’ realisation that the beauty and personal care space in India has seen immense growth, and there was a clear need gap that could be fulfilled with their offering. Along with the celebrity influence, the brand also adopted a unique drop strategy, dropping new products every few months.

Padukone, in a conversation with Storyboard18, says that the journey over the past one year has been very gratifying.

“We started with two products, now we have 12 products in our portfolio. We're gearing up for other categories as well. We've been working on the brand for the last two years. When we started out, of course, we knew that there was going to be a lot of work because we were building everything ground up. I was prepared for the amount of work that goes into building a brand. But I think post launch you realise actually where the journey begins. You know, it's not like you've launched and then it's over. That's actually where the real work starts.”

Padukone and brand’s co-founder Jigar Shah did not divulge details on the new categories they are launching but Padukone said that the new category will be in the realm of ‘self-care’.

With the launch of this brand, the makers wanted to give the audience a simple and easy self-care routine to follow, which didn’t include multiple steps, yet got the job done. “I think we reached a place where skincare was extremely overwhelming, complex routines, multiple steps, you know, multiple brands selling you different ideas. And I was actually that person that felt overwhelmed by the amount of information.” The products are apparently a reflection of Deepika’s own routine that she has followed for years.

Expansion plans

Many reports suggest that India’s direct-to-consumer (D2C) market is likely to reach a size of $100 billion by 2025 and brands operating in both fashion and beauty have the highest potential for growth. Even 82°E has followed a D2C approach for the first year, but going forward to grow the brand they plan to move beyond D2C.

“D2C will not be the sole channel for distribution, it will coexist with other channels,” adds Shah. He feels now they are at a point where they will expand into multiple channels. It was a strategy which we adopted from the start that for the first year we are going to be D2C online only, get it to a point where we feel like we have enough of a product assortment and then spend on expansion. And expansion is not just across channels whether it is offline or marketplaces. Expansion is also across geography.”

When the founders thought about building 82°E, they were clear that it should be rooted in India and global in appeal, but Padukone dropped a hint that it could also mean expanding to global markets. “Well, we're a brand born in India for the world, so take your cue from that,” she says with a smile.

Shah adds, “We have capabilities to ship to about 150 countries. And when we say it’s not a statement that I'm making, there are three layers of execution challenges that you have to solve when you want to ship outside.” “The first layer is, of course, logistics. The second layer is customs, and the third layer is the FDA, or the regulatory sort of framework specific to that country. And that changes from country to country, right?”

Watch the full interview here.